Several secondary aluminum alloy makers in Russia have recently discontinued their operations due to sharp demand decline for Russian secondary aluminum alloy ingot, AK5M2, especially from Japanese major secondary aluminum alloy makers, according to Daiki Aluminum Industry's Russian office. Meanwhile, Russian domestic AK5M2 inventory seems steadily decreasing when many suppliers are in wide-range output reductions.

 

The director of the office explained Russian secondary aluminum alloy production has been approximately 400,000 tonnes per annum or 30,000-35,000 tonnes per month in recent years. AK5M2 accounts for 70% of total production with ADC12 and AV87 for the rest 30%.

Many of Russian secondary aluminum alloy makers entered wide-range output reductions to follow demand plunge since autumn 2008. The director said the demand has even worsened in 2009 and many alloy makers have suspended their furnaces. A few large makers with 2,000-3,000 tonnes of monthly output capacity became failed.

 

The director said Russian AK5M2 export had been 20,000-25,000 tonnes per month by summer 2008 for Japan, Europe and USA and about 80% of export was bound for Japan. The export demand dropped down in autumn and the volume shrank to approximately 3,000 tonnes in January, a sixth from a year earlier. –Japan Metal Bulletin